This is the classroom blog of Reagan McDonald. Any reflections, assignments, and notes will be published on here and viewable to anyone who cares to look. I would encourage not only my students, but parents as well, to bookmark this site for the school year and to refer to it regularly. Please do not ever hesitate to contact me via email for anything school-related.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Tool #7

a. Content Objective: The student will collaborate extensively to create a story with setting, plot, characterization, and theme, while practicing the use of technology with 100% accuracy.

b. Implementation: This would be implemented(hopefully) this year (possibly next) during the month of November.

c. Technology: I would use Google Docs to implement this activity.

d. Assignment: I think it would be really cool to pair students up from different classes and do tandem creative writing for NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month--in November. I have several students who are attempting to write novels by themselves or with friends already, and this opportunity would be not only high interest, but educational for them as well. I would utilize Google Docs for this assignment, keep track of the assignment as it continued.

Sadly, I couldn’t get the activity together for November! However, I know my planning partner, Patty Carr, and I will organize it and try to do it next year where the kids partners are from her classes. It would be really cool to have them tandem write with students across the world.

About Me

Welcome to my blog! As my url indicates, I am in a tizzy for teaching! My passion for my profession can only be matched by my ardor for friends and family. I am a new teacher to WAIS, but am not new to teaching. This year will be my ninth year teaching. Prior to coming to Spring Branch, I taught five years at Hempstead High School, and the last three at George Bush High School in Fort Bend. My entire career until this year has been in high school (specifically, tenth grade English). I am excited to switch to eighth grade for many reasons. The most noteworthy is that I know where my students will need to be to be successful in high school. I know what they have been lacking these last few years, and it is my mission to make sure I am arming middle schoolers with the necessary tools to succeed. I believe in rigor, positivity, and fun. I'm thrilled to have you in my classroom.